Letting go or gripping tightly?

"The spiritual journey is more like a giving up control than taking control."

Fr. Richard Rohr, "Wondrous Encounters--Scripture for Lent"

 

As a kid I remember Lent being all about self-control.  The self-control it took to give up candy, which was the standard. The self-control to be plucked out of my warm bed, a quick brushing of teeth and, throwing a coat over my PJ's, being flung into a cold winter morning to attend 6:30 mass.  The self-control of beating my breast, begging God not to "throw me into the pit," in the Psalms. Yes, it was all about what I did.  I did. My control. My doings.  I'm feeling more and more that Lent is all about what God does; what God can do if I am just willing and pliable and give up control.  Lent, for me, has become more about letting go than tightly gripping.  Thanks be to God!  Love, heidi

PS: I will be in class for the next few days...please pray for us as we continue our class with our dear leader, Peg, watching from heaven. 

Where do we most need rain?

"Thus says the Lord, 'Just as from the heavens the rain and snow come down, and do not return there till they have watered the earth...'"

Isaiah 55:10

In the reflection of this reading on Pray-As-You-Go, they ask a pondering-worthy question.  What part of your life is dry and needs a good, cleansing rain? Oh, that's easy! I'm still reeling from my regular trip to the woodshed, i.e. yesterday's Gospel about the sheep and the goats! (Matthew 25:31-46) Consistently, I am brought up short in that reading and find myself clearly in the Goat line.  Unless taking a box of wine glasses to St. Vincent de Paul counts as giving drink to the thirsty, I'm still coming up short this year. (Thanks, Sam, for suggesting I fill the glasses first!) It's not that I don't give to the poor; that can be remedied by writing a check.  It's how I feel toward the poor that is the problem.  I struggle with the poor because I have so much and life is so much easier for me--it always has been.  I don't identify with the poor because I haven't walked in their shoes or shared their struggles.  I have always been, by comparison, very rich.  And this troubles me.  Just as the Rich Young Man, I wonder if Jesus is asking too much of me to "sell all I have and give to the poor." I find myself going away, very sad, because I have too much.  So, that is where I need a good, cleansing rain, my Friends.  I ask for the grace to get it all figured out.  Love, heidi